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Venkaiah Naidu (L) and Narendra Modi attend a party meeting in New Delhi May 18, 2009.]]]

AUGUST 5, 2011

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's ruling party candidate M. Venkaiah Naidu
was elected vice president in a parliamentary vote on Saturday, enabling
the party to boost its political standing in his southern home region
where it lacks a broad support base.

Naidu, 68, from Andhra Pradesh and a former president of the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP), defeated opposition nominee Gopalkrishna Gandhi,
grandson of independence hero Mahatma Gandhi, by a wide margin.

The position of vice president, like that of president, is largely
ceremonial under India's constitution, in which the prime minister and
his cabinet colleagues wield executive power.

However, the vice president is also the speaker of the Rajya Sabha, or
the upper house of parliament, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi's
ruling coalition lacks a majority and has faced problems in passing
legislation.

Naidu's victory in the vote by both houses was a foregone conclusion
because of the BJP's commanding majority in the 545-member Lok Sabha,
which more than makes up for its weakness in the upper house.

Recently elected President Ram Nath Kovind and Naidu were both
associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, or National Volunteer
Corps, the ideological fountainhead of Hindu groups, early in their
political careers.

Kovind, backed by the ruling Hindu nationalist right, easily won India's
presidential election last month, tightening its hold on positions of
power.